Jury duty a stern task in Corey case

When Julie Corey sobbed uncontrollably after her conviction for first-degree murder, Michael Sweeney watched with more than the usual degree of interest.

After all, the Worcester businessman was one of 12 jurors to decide the fate of the 39-year-old defendant, charged with murdering a pregnant woman and cutting the baby from her womb.

"I felt like the guy with the black hood on," said Sweeney, 41. When asked about his reaction to the woman's tears, he hesitated.

"I felt a little compassion," he said. "But I fought it off. I thought, wait a second. I have to think about the dead girl in the closet first."

The dead girl was Darlene Haynes, 23, whose decomposed body was found July 27, 2009, in a bedroom closet in her apartment at 94 Southgate St. Eight months pregnant, her skull was crushed and an electrical cord was wrapped around her neck. A 9-inch incision slashed her abdomen.

Sweeney, 41, said he assumed he'd be assigned to a drunken-driving case when he was called for jury duty in Worcester Superior Court earlier this month. Instead, he said it was "jarring" to learn he was selected for the lurid and sensational trial.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," he said. "I didn't really remember the case. It seemed completely insane and unreal."

The prosecution introduced evidence that Corey was the last person to be seen with Haynes alive, having driven her to a package store July 23, 2009. Two days after the discovery of Haynes' body, Corey and her boyfriend showed up with the baby at a homeless shelter in New Hampshire.

Corey's lawyers launched a spirited defense. While not disputing that their client was found with Haynes' baby, they tried to pin the murder on others, including the victim's former boyfriend.

Sweeney said little to no evidence linked the boyfriend or anyone else to the killing, and said the victim's ex-boyfriend's testimony and that of Corey's former boyfriend was convincing.

"They seemed genuine to me," Sweeney said. "They would have had to be tremendous actors to be involved in this."

Instead, he said, the circumstantial evidence against Corey was too strong, especially evidence that she used the dead woman's phone to call her boyfriend to claim she had given birth.

"That was a strong indication she was at the murder scene," Sweeney said. "She tried to take advantage of a girl who couldn't pose a threat. Julie Corey knew that Darlene wanted friends. She clearly had motive and opportunity."

The jury of six men and six women deliberated bout 9½ hours over two days before returning the verdict last Wednesday. Sweeney called his fellow jurors "strong minded, objective and unemotional" and said there were no holdouts for acquittal, although the standard of reasonable doubt was discussed extensively.

"Some jurors thought it was theoretically possible that someone else did it, but not in reality," he said. As for Corey's decision not to testify, he said, "It seems logical that if you're not guilty you'd want to defend yourself, but we're not supposed to consider that. The law doesn't always line up with logic."

He gave high marks to Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Bennett, along with defense lawyers Louis P. Aloise and Michael C. Wilcox. But the juror who owns two businesses — Central Auto Body and a recycling company called Mint Green Planet — gave low marks to the overall efficiency of the court.

"We get there at 8:45 and court doesn't start until 9:20," he said. "Then there are all the breaks during the day. I work so much harder than that."